Category: Lumia Denim

File this under the category of better late than never. AT&T has finally released the Lumia Denim update for the popular Lumia 1020 today. The update brings things like Cortana and other improvements into arguably one of the best smartphone/camera combinations on the market. Be sure to check out my Field Guide to Lumia Denim for a run down of all of the updates that are in the release. Frustratingly the Lumia 1020 has received the Lumia Denim update through many carriers globally, most notably O2 in England. AT&T, who exclusively sold the phone here in the US, has been painfully slow in rolling out Denim as a whole and many questioned if the 1020 would actually get the update. In a positive way, it has been answered.

It took 70 days but Lumia Denim is finally here for Lumia 1520 owners on AT&T. The update, which is being pushed out to owners now from Microsoft, brings all of the benefits of the latest Windows Phone 8.1 firmware along with feature specific changes in the Lumia Denim package.

The personal assistant Cortana that is built into Windows Phones running Lumia Denim and is now in the Windows 10 technical preview continues to get mini, behind-the-scenes updates. The latest update now brings the ability to read out loud instant answers to your questions. To this point, when you asked a question like “What time is it?” Cortana would simply display the current time. Now when you ask the same question, it reads out the time based on your location.

It’s been a big day for Lumia Denim. In addition to the Lumia Icon for Verizon getting the update, those of you in the UK and on O2 should start seeing the update over-the-air on the Lumia 925 and the Lumia 1020 now. This is something that O2 announced a few weeks ago that would be coming.

Update: The Over-The-Air update for Lumia Denim on the Icon is now available. Check your Icon by going to Settings>Phone Update to get it

For those on Verizon with the Lumia Icon, your wait is almost over. Last night Verizon pushed out to their website a PDF outlining the benefits of Lumia Denim and Windows Phone 8.1.1 for the Lumia Icon. This is good news albeit bittersweet. Verizon has already said it is stopping sales of the Lumia Icon but the irony is that it could be the first device in the United States with a proper update to Denim. This of course after Verizon never put out the Lumia Cyan update for the Icon.

AT&T has posted on Twitter that customers can expect to see the Lumia Denim update for devices on their network “soon”. The Tweet was a reply to long time Windows Platform Development MVP Ginny Caughey who somewhat sarcastically Tweeted that she would likely see Windows 10 on her Lumia 1520 before Lumia Denim was released. AT&T apparently was paying attention and replied with this Tweet:

@gcaughey The Denim update is coming soon. We will announce it’s availability on the AT&T Consumer Blog as soon as it’s ready for download.

It is certainly encouraging to hear that AT&T is looking to release Lumia Denim on the Lumia devices on their network but “soon” is a word that Windows Phone users have heard all too often. Still, we are likely talking weeks now instead of months.

The long rollout of Lumia Denim on Windows Phone continues but is finally starting to gain some carrier steam. UK provider O2 has released the latest update for the Lumia 635, Lumia 930 and Lumia 1520 on their network. For those of you who are on O2 and have these devices, you can go to Settings>phone update on your device to check for the update if it has not already been pushed down to you.

The news of O2 rolling out Lumia Denim is welcome as more carriers globally are starting to roll it out after it was released in December. Just last week UK’s EE network released the update for their customers using the Lumia 930 as did Brazil’s TIM network. As for North American carriers, the wait continues.

Lumia Denim has started making its way to devices locked to carriers in South American and the United Kingdom, starting what hopefully will be a rapid release on other carriers globally. As you may remember, Lumia Denim was released back in December but it is up to carriers to test and release it for specific devices on their network. Those who have Country Variant version of Windows Phones have already received Lumia Denim by-and-large.